Australian triathlete Jon Sammut is facing the gut-wrenching reality that he may never compete again as he remains stuck in hospital while dealing with surgery after surgery.
Sammut ended up in hospital after having a horrendous crash in the Busselton Ironman event at the start of this month.
He plowed into a bollard at 50km/h after what he says was a “two-second lapse in concentration” during the cycling leg.
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“I snapped my femur as bad as you can,” Sammut said.
“The orthopaedic surgeon said it’s one of the worst ones he has seen because one side of the bone was protruding through my hamstring and the other side was protruding through my quad outside my leg.
“I also detached my ACL from my leg, and broke my tibia and fibula to similar extents.
“My good leg, which is also not so good, has a grade 2 ACL tear and I will need to have surgery on that at some stage also.”
The 27-year-old knows he now may lose the correct functioning of his left leg.
After having seven surgeries in just 12 days, he was fasting (on Saturday) as he prepared for his eighth surgery, 20 days since the accident.
Two days ago he was emotional as he revealed part of the problem following surgery No.7
“Not the day I had hoped for. Surgery went ahead … but unfortunately, not as planned. When they opened up my leg, they discovered an infection caused by further muscle necrosis (dying muscle) in my Tibialis Anterior. They removed the necrotic tissue, cleaned the wound, and wrapped things up for the day,” he said.
“Due to the extent of the damage, there’s a high likelihood of more muscle necrosis. The surgeons have informed me that my leg won’t be closed for at least another 3-4 weeks. During this time, they’ll be performing routine procedures to remove any dead tissue and clean the wound until only healthy muscle remains.
“Once that happens, they can proceed with a skin graft.
“They’re treating the infection with a special type of antibiotics, and they’re monitoring closely to ensure I’m not allergic to it.
“It’s hard to accept that I’ll be at RPH for several more weeks, with multiple surgeries each week. But Doctors tell me this approach gives me the best chance of regaining any function in my lower leg.“I know doctors are doing everything they can, and given the complexity of my situation, they’re navigating it as carefully as possible.“Right now, I’m feeling a mix of frustration, uncertainty, and exhaustion. It’s tough to process that the road to recovery will be longer and more complicated than I’d hoped.
“The constant surgeries and the idea of being in the hospital for weeks on end are daunting.
“It’s really hard to stay positive when things feel completely out of my control. I’m trying to take things a day at a time, but everyday is just so physically and mentally exhausting. I know the doctors are doing everything they can, I can’t help but feel overwhelmed by how much more I still have to go through.
“I need to keep reminding myself that this is all for a chance to regain some function in my leg, it’s just a really tough reality to face right now.”
Sammut recently told PerthNow exactly how the accident happened, while detailing the full extent of the pain he went through.
“I got on to the bike and started riding, I knew I had a bit of time to make up from the first pack who had come out the water,” the 27-year-old said.
“I was moving up past some other triathletes, I made one overtake and then I saw the next person I was going to overtake so I put my head down to really put in an effort.
“Then I had a two-second lapse in concentration and when I looked up I was pedalling straight for a bollard at a roundabout.
“I came straight off the bike and I felt the full impact of the bollard hit my legs.
“So I knew as I was coming down that I had damaged them quite severely but I remember thinking I need to protect my face and my head.
“Then I tried to get up but I couldn’t feel my legs other than them being in a lot of pain.
“But I could see my ankle was facing the other way and was underneath my other leg and I could feel I had a lot of bones misplaced.
“The pain was unbearable, I was just screaming for the green whistle.”
Sammut believes the first surgery saved his life after his femoral artery was almost cut in the crash.
Waking up that time was extremely emotional for him and his family, as they had been told that amputation was a real possibility.
“When the green whistle had worn off and I had that first surgery, it was all very unknown,” he said.
“My mum, dad and sister were all crying by my bedside worried what sort of functionality or physical enablement I will have after all of this.”
The Aquinas College alumni had dreamt of representing Australia as an Olympic triathlete since he was nine years old.
Sammut said he idolised his father, who competed in the Busselton Ironman every year.
“I have devoted most of my time to training and racing since I was 18, when I was going through the junior ranks I always wanted to go to the Olympics and compete for Australia,” he said.
“In the last six months I managed to get some really good personal bests, I came fourth at the Sunshine Coasts 70.3, which was a massive result.
“The following week I competed in the Sydney marathon where I did really well for Australia and a few weeks later I raced in Malaysia.
“This race in Busselton was going to be my final chance to see if I could make it as a professional, now that’s sort of changed completely.”
Despite what seems to be a career-crushing accident, Sammut still has a flicker of positivity to go with his can-do attitude, and a coaching caper to return to.
“Everyone is hopeful,” he said.
“The tri community is hopeful and my family is hopeful that I will make as close as possible to a full recovery.
“So it might take a long time but I believe I can do it with the people I have around me.”
– With Perth Now